Pallets



1969 I T. H. DE CHERRIE 3,471,116v I PALLETS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 H X H z.

Inventor Theodore H. De Cherrie Atfornev 1969 -r. H. DE CHERRIE 7 5 6PALLETS Filed April 7, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Has Io F114, 176.5

Attorney United States Patent 3,471,116 PALLETS Theodore H. De Cherrie,Chicago, Ill., assignor to Zenith Radio Corporation, Chicago, 111., acorporation of Delaware Filed Apr. 7, 1967, Ser. No. 629,137 Int. Cl.B65d 67/00, 85/30 Us. (:1. 24s-,-119 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREThis invention relates to the manufacture, packaging and shipment ofconsole television receivers, stereophonic high fidelity instruments andthe like and more particu- =larly to pallets employed in conjunctionwith such prodnets to facilitate their factory movement and handling inaccordance with mass production assembly techniques and to provideprotection and stabilization for such products in their subsequentpackaging and shipment.

Modern console electronic home entertainment prodnets are supplied in avariety of fine furniture cabinetry. In an elfort to reduce the amountof damage to such cabinets in the course of factory handling andsubsequent shipment,it has been a customary practice in the radio andtelevision industry to provide such cabinets with wooden pallets whichserve as skids to facilitate factory handling and remain affixed to-thecabinet to serve as carton fillers and spacers during shipment. Whilethe use of such pallets has reduced the amount of cabinet damagesignificantly, it has failed to provide a complete solution to theproblem. In designing such pallets, it has been necessary to compromisetheir ruggedness in favor of maintaining a sufficiently light weight toavoid excessive material costs and shipping expense. This considerationhas limited the size and sturdiness of the wood stock employed and hasalso dictated the use of an open framework type of construction whichprovides only partial protection for the cabinet legs. Moreover, it hasbeen necessary to use bolts or other fasteners in securing the palletsto the cabinets; this is not only time-consuming and thereforeexpensive, but also results in a rigid connection between the pallet andthe cabinet, so that shocks to which the pallet may be subjected in thecourse of factory handling are transmitted to the cabinet and sometimesresult in costly cabinet damage.

It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a new andimproved pallet for use in the factory handling and shipment of consoleelectronic home entertainment'products.

It is a further and more specific object of the invention to providesuch a new and improved pallet which affords a greater measure ofprotection to the associated product during manufacture and shipmentthan pallets of conventional construction. I

' Still another object of the invention is to provide such a new andimproved pallet which is adapted to be retained on its associatedproduct without the useof bolts or other external fasteners.

A further objectof the invention is to achieve the ice aforementionedobjectives with a new and improved pallet construction which is oflighter weight and lower cost, and which is less susceptible to breakagein factory handling or shipment, than the pallets conventionallyemployed in the manufacture of such products.

In accordance with the invention, there is provided a pallet adapted fordual utility (a) in the commercial manufacture of an article, such as aconsole television receiver, having a furniture cabinet with achassis-supporting shelf and other parts such as legs, braces and sidepanels disposed below said shelf, and, (b) in the packaging of sucharticle in a shipping carton. A new and improved pallet embodying theinvention comprises a continuous body of expanded cellular plasticmaterials such as polystyrene foam having an extended upper supportingsurface adapted to engage the chassis-supporting shelf and providesupport for the cabinet from below. The expanded cellular plastic bodyis provided with an upwardly opened grooved portion adjacent thesupporting surface for receiving the parts of the cabinet which extendbelow the shelf, this grooved portion being proportioned to providevertical clearance relative to such other parts received therein whenthe cabinet is resting on the supporting surface but to be in grippingengagement with opposed lateral surfaces of at least some of such otherparts to insure frictional retention of the pallet on the cabinetwithout the use of fasteners of any kind. A

reinforcing member of wood or the like is secured to the bottom of theexpanded cellular plastic body to permit its use as a skid in moving thecabinet between successive stations of a mass production assembly line.The pallet has an outer configuration adapted to conform with theshipping carton when the article is inserted therein, whereby the palletalso serves as a readily removable spacer and filler to stabilize thearticle in the carton during shipment.

The features of the present invention which are believed to be novel areset forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention,together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best beunderstood by reference to the following description taken in connectionwith the accompanying drawings, in the several figures of which likereference numerals identify like elements, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a pallet construction in accordancewith the invention as employed in conjunction with a console televisionreceiver, a shipping carton being shown in dotted outline;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the several pallets of FIGURE 1, withthe television receiver removed;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken along the lines 33 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 55 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view taken along the line 66 of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 7 is a sectional view taken along the line 7-7 of FIGURE 6.

In FIGURE 1, there is shown a console television receiver housed in afine furniture cabinet 10. The receiver as shown is supported by leftand right pallets 11 and 12, respectively, each of a width much lessthan half the overall cabinet width, and an auxiliary intermediatepallet 13. Auxiliary pallet 13 is provided in conjunction with widerinstruments such as stereophonic high fidelity instruments and TV-stereocombinations of the type shown in FIG- URE 1; when the unit is of anarrower constIuction, such as a simple console television receiver, theintermediate or auxiliary pallet 13 may be omitted.

Pallets 11 and 12 are constructed in accordance with the invention, andtheir construction may best be visual ized by consideration of FIGURE 2.Since pallets 11 and 12 are of identical construction except that theconfiguration of each is a mirror image of the other, consideration ofpallet 12 will suffice to convey an understanding of the construction.

Pallet 12 is composed of a one-piece continuous body 14 of expandedcellular plastic material, preferably polystyrene foam, to the bottomsurface of which is glued or otherwise secured a reinforcing member 15of wood or the like. Body 14 is provided with an extended uppersupporting surface 16 and an upwardly opening channel or grooved portion17 adjacent supporting surface 16 for receiving those parts of cabinetwhich extend below the chassis-supporting shelf 30. For the particularillustrated embodiment of the invention, channel 17 is of a C-shapedconfiguration and is of a Width determined by the specific dimensions ofcabinet 10 with which the pallet 12 is to be employed; moreparticularly, channel 17 is proportioned so that its opposite surfacesare in gripping engagement with opposed lateral surfaces of at leastsome of the cabinet parts which are disposed below chassissupportingshelf 30, to insure frictional retention of pallet 12 on cabinet 10without the use of auxiliary fasteners. Moreover, the depth of channel17 is greater than the height of the cabinet parts extending belowchassis-supporting shelf 30, to provide vertical clearance relative tolegs 19 and other depending parts 20 received therein when cabinet 10 isresting on supporting surface 16-, so that no weight-bearing stressesare imparted to legs 19 and other depending parts 20. It is preferredthat channel 17 be of variable depth as shown, to provide onlysufficient vertical clearance to preclude the imposition of suchweight-bearing stresses, because this gives plastic body 14 its greateststrength and rigidity consistent with attainment of the objectives ofthe invention. The outer surface of pallet 12 is provided with aplurality of grooves or indentations 18, which may be in any convenientpattern, for a purpose to be described. For maximum economy and optimumprotection for the depending cabinet parts, expanded cellular plasticbody 14 is formed in a single molding process, the mold beingproportioned to insure that channel 17 is properly dimensioned asdescribed above to cooperate with the particular cabinet configurationunder consideration. This of course will necessitate the use ofdifferent molds for specifically different cabinet constructions, butthe economies and other advantages of the invention are such thatuniversal adaptability of the pallets to cabinets of all configurationsis not required to achieve the benefits of the invention.

In use, the cabinet legs 19 and other depending parts 20 are insertedinto channel 17, the natural resilience of expanded cellular materialpermitting slight lateral expansion of channel 17 upon the insertion ofthe cabinet parts to provide the gripping engagement and frictionalretention described previously. Since the pallet 12 is of lightweightconstruction, it has been found that specified objectives can be readilyachieved so that even if cabinet 10 is lifted, the weight of pallet 12is insuificient to overcome the frictional forces retaining pallet 12 inplace. On the other hand, pallet 12 can be removed easily at will simplyby lifting one end of cabinet 10 and applying moderate downwardpressure.

FIGURES 3 through 7 illustrate the manner in which cabinet 10 issupported by pallets 11, 12 and 13, and the manner in which the cabinetlegs 19 and other downwardly depending cabinet parts 20 are receivedWithin channels 17 provided in the outermost pallets 11 and 12. Thecabinet legs 19 are fully enclosed within the molded bodies 14 andtherefore receive a much greater measure of protection than thatafforded by the conventional Wooden pallets. Auxiliary pallet 13, whichmay simply be a block of the same expanded cellular plastic materialwith its glued wood reinforcing member 22, may be frictionally retainedbetween a pair of braces 23 provided on 4 the under surface of thecentral portion of chassis-supporting shelf 30, as shown in FIGURE 4.

After completion of the manufacturing and testing operation, to preparethe television receiver for shipment, a conventional cardboard shippingcarton 25 indicated in dashed outline in FIGURE 1 is simply slipped overthe top of cabinet 10, with the pallets 11, 12 and 13 remaining inplace, and bottom sealed. Accordingly, each of the pallets 11 and 12 isprovided with an outer configuration adapted to conform with theshipping carton upon insertion of the completed receiver, so thatpallets 11 and 12 serve as readily removable spacer and filler elementsto stabilize the product in the carton during shipment.

Grooves or indentations 18 are provided so that the total area ofexternal surface of pallets 11 and 12 maintained in contact with theinner surface of the shipping carton 25 is materially reduced, thusproviding a substantial cushioning effect which reduces the transmissionto the furniture cabinet of impact forces encountered during shipment.

Thus the invention provides a new and improved pallet construction whichis compact, lightweight and inexpensive while providing improvedprotection for the cabinet during manufacture and shipment. The palletof the invention is frictionally retained in place without the use ofbolts or other external fasteners, and has been found to withstandordinary factory handling and shipment with less pallet breakage andmaterially less cabinet damage than have been encountered with use ofthe previously employed bolted wooden pallets.

While a particular embodiment of the invention has been shown anddescribed, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that changesand modifications may be made without departing from the invention inits broader aspects.

I claim:

1. A pallet adapted for dual utility (a) in the commercial manufactureof an article, such as a console television receiver, having a furniturecabinet with a chassissupporting shelf and other parts such as legs,braces and side panels disposed below said shelf, and (b) in thepackaging of said article in a shipping carton, said pallet comprising:

a continuous body of expanded cellular plastic material having anextended upper supporting surface adapted to engage saidchassis-supporting shelf and provide support for said cabinet frombelow, and an upwardly opening grooved portion adjacent said supportingsurface for receiving said other parts of said cabinet below said shelf,said grooved portion comprising a C-shaped channel and beingproportioned to provide vertical clearance relative to said other partsreceived therein when said cabinet is resting on said supporting surfacebut to be in gripping engagement with opposed lateral surfaces of atleast some of such other parts to insure frictional retention of saidpallet on said cabinet without the use of fasteners of any kind, saidvertical clearance being only sufficient to avoid the imposition ofweight-bearing stress on said other cabinet parts;

and a reinforcing member of wood or the like secured to the bottom ofsaid body to permit its use as a skid in moving said cabinet betweensuccessive stations of a mass production assembly line;

said pallet having an outer configuration adapted to conform with saidshipping carton when said article is inserted therein, whereby saidpallet also serves as "a readily removable spacer and filler tostabilize said article in said carton during shipment, the overall Widthof said pallet being less than half the width of said cabinet, and saidpallet being adapted to engage and support one side of said cabinetwhile another pallet of similar construction engages and supports theother side.

(References on following page) References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTSAddison 10851 Kaye 248346 Solomon 248119 5 Martin.

Wood.

Pezely et a1.

6 3,356,209 12/ 1967 Pezely. 3,380,403 4/1968 Sullivan 10851 FRANCIS K.ZUGEL, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R.

